Jerry: According to the Bevel Brother's Article in Muzzle Blasts, Wheel Weights will produce balls that weigh less, but are Slightly Larger in diameter than that cast with pure lead. The BHN is harder than Pure Lead, too. This is because of tin, as well as trace amounts of antimony sometimes found in WWs.
As long as you sort your balls by weight, you will get good groups shooting WWs. However, as has already been cautioned, they will shoot to a different point of Impact, that where your sights will shoot pure lead balls, and in hunting, they will not expand on hitting flesh like a pure lead ball does. If you are hunting heavy skinned and heavy boned game, like bear, wild boar, elk, Moose, and caribou, this is probably okay. But when hunting thin skinned and soft boned animals like deer, the pure lead ball give superior performance by expanding in the flesh almost on impact, created a much larger Primary Wound Channel on the animal, which causes quick death through loss of blood pressure, and hemorrhaging. You can help negate the effect of HAVING to use a thinner patch with these balls, by using a filler, like corn meal, or an OP Wad, like the Walter's Vegetable Fiber Wads between the powder charge and the PRB. The wad will seal the gases, and protect both the patching, and the lead ball from being burned, and cut, by hot gases squeezing by the thin patch. Burned patches, and Cut balls lead to very inaccurate groups. \
If you shoot modern guns, WWs make excellent HARD bullets for use in revolvers, and rifles. If after some many outings at the range with these WW balls, testing for an accurate load, you are NOT happy with their performance, you can use the lead for this other shooting sport, or trade it to someone who does shoot cast bullets in revolvers and rifles, for pure lead.
For pure lead, look to scrap yards for roof sheathing, and for plumber's lead pipe left overs. The lead in these two items has traditionally been soft lead, and makes excellent round balls. :thumbsup:
